I’ve been reading Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison & Oracle (Matthew Symonds, 2003) after a newsletter recommendation. Despite being over two decades old, the book feels strikingly relevant today.
One insight that stood out was Ellison’s controversial push to move Oracle beyond the dominant Client/Server model toward a web-based model (again, this was 2000-2001!).
While this technical foresight was impressive, his philosophy on process automation reveals an even more profound insight that businesses today still struggle to implement.
Ellison repeatedly emphasised: "Don't tell us how you've been running your business for the last twenty years. Instead, let us try to figure out how you want to run your business for the next twenty years."
This statement encapsulates what I believe remains the central challenge in digital transformation initiatives. The concept of "digital transformation" didn't even exist in 2000, yet Ellison had already identified its greatest obstacle: organisations remain stubbornly wedded to existing processes, seeking only to make them faster rather than fundamentally reimagining them.
Too often, I see companies hire implementation firms that deploy analysts to document current processes and design "future states" that merely accelerate existing workflows. The real opportunity lies elsewhere - in selecting your best internal talent and empowering them to question everything about how your business operates.
- Why are we structured this way?
- Why does this process follow these steps?
- Why do all these approvals and stage gates exist?
- Were they deliberately designed or just accumulated over time?
- How could this be done more intelligently with the new tools we now have available?
This willingness to navigate what I've previously called the "messy middle" separates true transformation from cosmetic upgrades. It requires the courage to reevaluate nearly everything in your business and reimagine operations with fewer friction points, deliberate design choices, and meaningful automation.
Twenty years later, Ellison’s insight remains both relevant and largely ignored. Maybe it’s time we finally listened.
#DigitalTransformation #BusinessInnovation #ProcessRedesign #Leadership